


"My songs are questions, not answers."

by toushindai (WallofIllusion)



Category: Transistor (Video Game)
Genre: Epistolary, Gen, Illustration, Magazine Article, Primary Source, document fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 23:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15229893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WallofIllusion/pseuds/toushindai
Summary: Red on her music, her hiatus, and her return.Interview by Amelia Garbur, Associate Editor





	"My songs are questions, not answers."

**Author's Note:**

> An article in like, the equivalent of Harper or Rolling Stone or something. Does Cloudbank have print magazines? I don't know, just roll with it.

# "My songs are questions, not answers."

## Red on her music, her hiatus, and her return

_Amelia Garbur, Associate Editor. Photography by Garron Emororia._

▽

THE SENSATIONAL RED IS BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT. After eight months of relative silence, she has made her stunning return, performing all-new music to a full house at Goldwalk’s Empty Set last Saturday.

Her new music is bold, uncompromising, and almost confrontational; but in person, Red is as charming and composed as ever. She joins me for lunch in one of OVC’s balcony interview rooms to share her thoughts on her return, and I can’t help but notice the light in her eyes as we sit down together. 

“Yes, I _do_  love being on stage again,” she says, amusement quirking her lips as she correctly guesses my first question. “There’s nothing quite like the connection I can forge with the audience through my singing.” 

Indeed, Red is known for the ease with which she forges such connections. For the past five years, she has been one of Cloudbank’s top musical acts, attracting audiences of all kinds to her vibrant, passionate music. She is known for her themes of individuality, which resonate especially with the younger generations as they begin to examine the question of how to find their place in our fair city. Some even consider her to be the inspiration behind a recent trend towards selection of nontraditional vocations, although Red herself has never spoken explicitly on the subject. Asked about it now, she considers her words carefully before responding.

“I don’t consider myself to be a part of any movement,” she says. “Some people seem to think I’m suggesting a particular course of action through my music, but I don’t see it that way. For the most part, my songs are questions I’m wrestling with, not answers.” 

Her reticence is not altogether surprising. The conflict that occurred at her concert eight months ago, spurring her to withdraw from the spotlight for a time, brought the tumultuous changes occurring in Cloudbank to her metaphorical doorstep; since then, rumors about everything from her personal philosophy to her political stances have circulated incessantly. 

Prior to last week’s concert, her only public statement since the incident has been a brief written comment expressing sadness that anyone might feel moved to violence by her music and requesting privacy to consider the impact of her music on the city and her fans. I ask her whether her time away from the limelight has produced any further thoughts on the matter, and her face changes. Sitting back thoughtfully in her chair, she folds her hands on the table and looks away before answering. It is clear that the experience has affected her deeply. 

“For the first time, I understood what a potent effect my music can have on people,” she says contemplatively. “That effect may not be what I intend; it may not be what I desire. But I can’t pretend that it has nothing to do with me.”

_Gown and accessories: Maximilian Darzi. Hair and Makeup: Cheyelle._

She sends me a wry look of kinship as she unwraps the napkin from her silverware and places it in her lap. “I spent quite a bit of time looking for a way to express myself without creating any misunderstandings at all, but as I’m sure you’ve discovered in your own writing, that’s not possible. Everyone approaches what they hear from their own context and, if I’m doing well, receives what they need from my music in that particular moment. I can’t control the other end of things. All I can do is represent my own heart as honestly as possible and listen to the responses.” 

I ask if that has been her primary goal in composing her new music, and she shrugs.

“The songs I’m performing, yes. There are a few I’m keeping to myself—incomplete thoughts, unhelpful emotions, things like that—and I needed to get through those before I could find what I was trying to say. It’s been a process. But yes, honesty is always my goal in my music.” 

I make a few more attempts, sprinkled throughout our conversation, to prompt her to explain a little more about her music, but Red is known for being coy on this particular subject. I finally ask her outright about one of the songs she debuted last week, “We All Become,” and she immediately turns the question back on me with a lift of an eyebrow.

“What do _you_  think it means?” she asks, her voice lightly teasing. Put on the spot, I stammer out a vague, half-formed impression about standing firm and defiant in the face of pushback.

She is amused by my answer. “Standing firm? Don’t I sing something about _running_?” she points out. But she doesn’t make any effort to offer a correct interpretation, and I don’t get the impression that I’m completely wrong, either. This, I realize, is her point exactly: that each listener will hear what they need in her music.

As I contemplate that revelation, she relents in her teasing. “‘We All Become’ is a very personal song,” she admits. “All of my music is. It will never mean to anyone else what it means to me, and that’s something I’ve come to accept. But if it reaches your heart and stirs some kind of emotion, then I’ve achieved everything a performer can ever dream of.”  ▽


End file.
